Anything Can set It Off
by NekoNoKitiKiti
Summary: Bunny is spending the day with Kotetsu and Kaede, but Kaede has once again lost her favorite stuffed animal! So the three of them begin tearing apart Kotetsu's house to find it, but Bunny finds something that strikes him very deeply. Post-series and spoilers...


Barnaby walked down the crowded streets of Sternbild. It was considered late, but the city really never stopped, only certain places did, and they weren't the places you wanted to be.

He knew being out this late worried Samantha, but she let him go out anyway. Mr. Maverick was much more strict with when he was to go out and come back. He liked staying with Samantha, as rare a it was; she was less strict in general.

Nights like this, in which he went out and asked solely about Ouroboros, often, almost always, failed. But the disappointment typically only fueled the drive more; the night a lead evaded him meant a night he decided to search twice as hard.

But he took a wrong turn this particular night.

In hindsight, taking a deserted alleyway as a shortcut was a terrible idea, and he'd known at the time but had ignored it.

Because little did he know, that particular alley was territory for a completely unrelated crime syndicate.

And it wasn't too long before he found out.

As he walked down the dark alley at a brisk pace, a figure stepped out in front of him from the shadows on one side.

'Hey, kid, you look a little lost there. What business do you have here, eh?'

Barnaby stopped and sighed. Knew it.

'I was using this as a shortcut...'

'Hmph. You look like a rich brat. And rich brats using our turf as shortcuts means money for us. If you value your life, I suggest you cooperate.'

Barnaby sighed again. He had an option. Either cooperate as asked or he could try his Hundred Power. He tended to keep his NEXT to himself; he didn't have perfect control over it. He needed to get on that though, maybe this could be practice before Hero Academy...

He took the chance. He activated his power.

'For a rich brat, you're not very smart.' The same telltale glow surrounded the gangster.

But before either could begin, a Hero crashed in between them. Barnaby watched a the Hero effortlessly took down his kidnapper. Almost kidnapper, but still. Police had spontaneously appeared and had taken the gangster away, arresting more from the shadows. A hideout bust most likely, Barnaby'd been lucky this time.

The Hero turned to him. It was dim in the alley, but now he could make out the Hero. Wild Tiger. Currently King of Heroes, he recalled.

'You alright, kid? That was pretty close, pretty gutsy too, really. What's your NEXT?'

Barnaby relaxed; the threat was gone. While he needed to go to finish up his search for the night, he decided a short conversation wouldn't hurt. How often did a kid get to talk to a Hero like this?

'Hundred Power. The same as yours, I think.'

The Hero smiled. 'Yep, that's right. Ever thought about being a Hero?'

Barnaby smiled back. 'My uncle's been pushing me toward it, yes.'

A policeman, followed by several reporters, called to Tiger.

'Sorry, kid, got to go; hope to see you out here with us in a few years!'

He ran to the reporters. Barnaby went along his way, as he would have had nothing happened.

Bunny held an old picture in one hand and covered his mouth with the other, trying to hold in any whimpers, but they escaped regardless, just like the tears that had already spilled down his face.

How could he have forgotten that?

After almost four years around Kotetsu, how could he have forgotten that?

Maverick, simply put.

If someone had asked him about that night when he was seventeen, he would have said it had been a policeman that had jumped in. That's how he remembered it...

...Falsely, remembered it.

It took the picture he was currently holding to shake off this fake memory. The sting from uncovering lost memories had dulled the more it happened, the more he regained, but this one struck a little more.

He had met his best friend so long ago, on a positive note, at that. He preferred that meeting to the several months they constantly fought.

His thoughts were disturbed as Kotetsu walked in the room.

'Did you find it? Oi, Bunny, what's wrong?' He sat beside Barnaby on the floor, looking over his shoulder at the picture in the younger Hero's hand. It was an old picture, of Wild Tiger in his previous blue and white suit, a huge smile on his face.

'Oi, Bunny-'

'Kotetsu, about ten years ago, you saved a teenager in an alleyway right before you arrested a gang. Correct?'

'Well, yeah, but I don't see-'

'Kotetsu, that was me.'

At first, Kotetsu blanked in shock, then a goofy grin spread across his face.

'I remember, that blonde rabbit fluff and red jacket, it was you! I still don't see why that picture made you remember that, or why you're crying, though...'

Bunny laid his head on Kotetsu's shoulder as he wiped the tears away on his arm.

'I don't know why either, the picture just made it snap back into place. The crying, on the other hand, is because remembering it hurt more than usual.'

Kotetus patted Bunny's shoulder that wasn't against him. 'It's alright, Bunny, I understand.'

Kotetus stood, and pulled Bunny up off the floor. 'Come on, that stuffed animal won't find itself!'

Barnaby wiped a last tear away and replaced the picture where he'd found it. Just like all the others he'd uncovered, he wasn't going to let this one go again, either.


End file.
